What Exactly Does Free Speech Mean Online?

The last several years have seen an enormous increase in the number of discussions about what people can/cannot and should/should not say online. Within the past year, it has gotten far more intense. Those who get into trouble often claim the right to Free Speech to defend their actions.

Everything we do online becomes part of our Digital Footprint, the lasting impressions of our actions. The Internet has a very long memory, even including stories about what happened before it came into being back in the eighties.

Many of those who have learned the hard way that Freedom of Speech isn’t what they thought it was were children or young adults. Here are just three examples:

In the first, a young girl in Texas was fired from her job within 24 hours of getting the job over a post on Twitter (back in 2015).

In the second, Rachel Zegler’s posts from 2023 came back to haunt her as her Snow White movie was about to launch.

In my final example, Harvard College rescinded acceptances for students because of their Digital Footprints.

I could easily post hundreds of such stories. What all have in common are young people not realizing the potential consequences of their actions. In the first, the girl lost her job. Was that fair? Would you have done the same thing in her boss’s place?

And while Rachel didn’t lose her job in the Snow White movie, it definitely hurt the box office sales for the movie and will almost certainly impact her future acting career as movie studios weigh the risks of having her repeat that type of behavior.

As for the kids from Harvard, it didn’t affect their employment status (not directly), but it may very well have impacted their future employment by not getting a Harvard degree. The school explained their position by stating, “Harvard College reserves the right to withdraw an offer of admission under various conditions including if an admitted student engages in behavior that brings into question his or her honesty, maturity, or moral character.”

Bottom Line

Did those young people have the right to do as they did? Of course they did, but that doesn’t mean that they’re free of the consequences of their actions. Freedom of Speech was meant to curtail the ability of the government to punish people for speaking out against the government. It does not prevent the general public, private employers, or schools from taking actions that they see are contrary to their best interest.

It's best not to risk it. As I wrote for Pediatric Safety, learning the Online Meets Offline lesson the hard way can affect us in very profound ways. But the lesson can be learned without it affecting their opportunities.